There is so much that goes into maintaining a house and many of those maintenance type of needs are expensive. Yes, expensive necessities that you need to take care of right away and often take a large chunk of whatever budget you save for your home.
This year alone, we had our furnace break during one of the coldest weeks of Winter (literally right after the new year) and we had already planned to get a new roof in the Spring. When we moved in in 2019, we knew the roof was pushing about 30 years so within the coming 2 years we would need to replace that. We also knew our furnace was old but it breaking was clearly not part of the plan. These types of things are often never part of the plan. So why does it seem that no one ever talks about this? Yes, it’s boring and mundane to discuss, but these are HUGE necessities for a house that again, come with a larger price tag. So let’s discuss two of the necessary updates we had to make in our home the past few months.
New Furnace
When our furnace broke, we had someone from AJ Perri come out to take a look at it. It was more cost effective to replace it then try to fix a part of it when other parts would eventually break, and probably soon due to its age. AJ Perri is partnered with Google Nest now so that was the only option we could go with and I was oddly very excited about that. A few days after our new furnace was installed, my husband could understand my excitement because having control on your phone and the sleek look of the thermostat really is fun in the adulting world. Yes, I am aware at how boring this makes us seem LOL. With the Nest thermostat, we were also given their Nest Protect smoke and CO alarm which is much nicer looking than the typical old smoke detectors and it also has a built in night light motion sensor. Pretty neat!
New Roof
We began calling roof companies to come out and quote us on a new roof in April. We called companies that people close to us have used and also began our own search for recommended roofers. In the end, we went with a roofer that did my parents’ roof and they quoted us 3k less than another reputable and recommended roofer. Always get multiple quotes to not only know what prices are like but to also get a vibe for who will be working on your house and how they are to communicate with.
For our roof, I knew the look I wanted. I did not want a boring roof that looks exact to every other house in a neighborhood. If you look around your house or town, odds are majority of homes have a boring gray or black roof. (PS, once you need a roof, you’ll be obsessed with looking at roofs where ever you go!) You live with your roof for 3o years…it can definitely improve curb appeal and the value of your home if you make it a feature rather than just a plain, boring roof. Since budget is a huge factor, you want to explore your options to know what is feasible and what is not. If it is not feasible, how can you obtain something similar or unique to fit your home?
We live in a beach town and when I see these beautiful houses with cedar shake roof shingles, that’s all I want. The reality of cedar or wood shake shingles is that they’re expensive. Expensive for material, expensive to install, and expensive upkeep/maintenance. I wanted the dimensional look and color that cedar roof shingles give but we knew they were way out of our budget. We looked at several options of GAF roof shingles which were recommended to us by the roofers who quoted us. Through research, I found that they do offer a wood shake look shingle roof option….these were of course their most expensive options and still out of our budget. Luckily through discussion with the roofer we chose, he let us know it is very expensive for the material and the installation of those types of shingles. He also mentioned you only get the dimensional look if you have a very steep roof with lots of peaks, otherwise it looks like a basic roof. We were so appreciative he even disclosed that information because many people would just want the extra money. I kept looking at colors and shingle options that would provide some dimension with the way the colors were placed in the shingles. We talked with our roofer about the option we were leaning towards and he gave us helpful feedback while also coming back to our house to give larger samples.
We ultimately chose the GAF Timberline HDZ shingles in Weathered Wood. I wanted a light brown and driftwood coloring and the roof came out to look exactly like that! While it’s not the dream roof I envisioned, it works for our budget and for improving the look of our home.
This is the unfortunate but inevitable reality of homeownership. It’s not exciting or cool types of renovation so you rarely see it plastered on blogs and social media. It may seem like common knowledge that these are often costly but when you see people have these large renovation budgets, you have to take into account what your budget will also be going towards….sometime unexpectedly….and sometimes unexpectedly while large renovations are happening.
We try to budget well and always have emergency funds which is how we were able to pay for our new furnace and our new roof. The HVAC company we used (AJ Perri for NJ locals) had a 0% interest payment plan that we took advantage of so we didn’t feel like we had to pay in one big lump sum. You obviously can’t anticipate all of these types of updates but know that they happen and they happen to everyone.